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3 Tips to Make Halloween a Success Without Wrecking Your Fitness Progress

I love Halloween, it’s just super fun. I have a moderate love for spooky stuff as long as it’s not too gross. I also have a moderate love for candy ;) who doesn’t?! This year most everyone in our office dressed up. My husband and I were Storm Troopers. Here we are flexing our 9Round muscles!

Here’s the deal, one evening of a little indulgence in your favorite candy won’t wreck all your progress , any more than just doing just one workout would make you lose 10 pounds.

DISCLAIMER: this only works if you are focused on your fitness and nutrition 99% of the time and choose to PLAN your indulgences.

Planning means, you’re not going to eat everything you see. You’re going to be selective and be very choosy.

Here’s a breakdown of a successful Halloween in 3 steps:

STEP 1:Treat it like any other day at first.

Remember during any day that has a special event, you simply MUST keep your usual healthy eating habits up, starting with breakfast. Some people skip meals because they plan to overindulge later. I don’t recommend this at all. If you’re doing something like going “trick-or-treating” tonight, make sure you eat a healthy dinner before you go so that you aren’t hungry. This way you’re not likely to binge on sugar. Drink lots of water and even bring a water to carry with you during all the fun.

STEP 2: ONLY eat your absolute favorite candies….

Don’t “waste” your indulgence on a candy that isn’t your favorite. Make it special and then, you’ll feel “satisfied.”

ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: This should be a one-time thing. You can’t do this the day after Halloween and the next day too. Now we’re getting into a different territory. These habits will end up slowing or wrecking your fitness progress. It does take a reasonable amount of discipline to do just one indulgence and then get straight back into right eating the very next meal.

***Note! If you know that you’re the type that can’t stop once you start, my suggestion is, don’t do it at all. Stay focused on right eating every 2.5-3.5 hours, and just know that, candy is just candy. It doesn’t have to control your life. You can live one night without it. Don’t put yourself in a self-induced bad situation if you know your will power to stop is very weak. It’s not worth it. You’re worth more!

STEP 3:Set your alarm.

Have a time, like 8:30 pm, that your alarm goes off and let this mark the end of your indulgence spree. Let that be that, and bag up the remainder of the candy and give it to your local dentist. They often purchase it and send it to the troops overseas or the like. Once it’s out of the house, you can’t eat it anymore!

Boom! You made it. No damage done and fun was had by all.

P.S.Once more, please note that I never said, "Eat candy and still lose weight on Halloween!" If you're trying to lose fat, you really should opt out of the above plan. But, if you're cranking along pretty good on your fitness plan and can closely follow the above criteria,like a boss, then you won't have a hard time picking right back up where you left off on your good eating habits. It's all about what your goals are.

Getting through the holidays is all about deep breaths, keeping calm, and just understanding your limits. It’s not about deprivation or starvation, but it’s not about overindulgence and sugar comas either. Balance is key throughout the entire holiday season for optimal results.

Heather Hudson has been with 9Round since inception in 2008 and is COO and Co-Founder of 9Round Franchising. She is a black belt in Shotokan Karate and grew up with a passion for fitness and overall wellness.